Improvement in machines for making spikes



2 Sheets-Sheet. 1.

J. H. SWETT. 11111011111111 FOR MAKING SPIKBS.

No. 111,013. P11911161 Jan, 17, 1871.

2 SheetS-Sheet 2.

J. SWETT, MACHINE FOR MAKING SPIKES.

' No. 111,013. Patented Jan. 17, 1 71.

Figil.

aura taint i fiilitnt cam J AMES H. SWETT, OF PITTSBU RG, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 111,013, dated January 17, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACH NES FOR MAKING SPIKES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. Swn'rT, of Pittsburg, in the conntyofAllegheny and State of 'Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and1isefnlIn1-' provements in Spike-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of theconstrnctionand operation of the same, reference being had to thcaccompanyingdrawings making a part of this specification, in whichtral sectionthrough'the machine. 7

Figure 4 represents an elevation of the opposite tillepfathe machinefrom tbatsl-iown in fig-.2.

l igurefi represents a plan of that part of the machine that underliesthe griping-levers, which latter, together wit-bother parts, arerepresented as removed to better show the devices underneath them.

Similar letters of reference wherethey occur in the several separatefigures denote like-parts in all of the drawings.

'-'Heading and pointing spikes by machinery is comparatively an easyoperation, if the feeding in of the rod or blank, and the taking out ofthe spike, be accomplished with unvarying certainty. But whenever, fromany cause, and there arfmany, incident to this operation, the feeding inor thedelivcry fails, or if two.. -blanks get in, 01' two spikes remainin between the dies, the rapidity and force with which the machine worksmust break it down or very much strain it.

hlyinvention ,relates to the means and appliances for the certainfeeding in of the rod, bar, or blank, and for the certain removal of theheaded spike, with such additional guards against allowing two blanks toget in, or two spikes to remain in, the machine at one and the sametime, as to avoid all liability of breaking or strainingthe machine,while it can be run at a speed and with such power as to make theoperation succes still ai l'entirely safe one. To enable others skilledin the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe thesame with reference to the drawings.

' In suitable bearings at the rear of the main frame A is hung thecam-shaft B, from which, and by which,all the moving parts of themachine are operated.

The griping-lever c is hung by means of stirrups l) to-heavily-weightedlevers E, so that if two blanks or two spikes shonld,.from anynncontrolable cause,

' get into the griping-dies a b at the same time, the

- lraw out and. point the blank,

sful and economical and I 'the slides are pivoted, respectively,

gripinglever c and its die may, by overcoming the weight of the leversE, yie'ldenongh to prevent themachine from breaking-up, which it. wouldotherwise inevitablydo.

The lever F, the object and purpose of which will be hereafterdescribed, is also hung in amanner similar to, that, and indeed on thesame shaft, with the -griping-lever E, but not necessarily so, as thelever B is not so liable to undue strainas is that of thegriping-leverE.

.Toa crank, G, on the cam-shaft B, is attached by a wrist-pin, '0, oneend of a connecting-rothH,

the other end of which is attached to a cross-head,

I, on the end of a rock-shaft, J, by which devicesv said shaft gets itsmotion; and from the opposite end of the cross-head a secondconnecting-rod, K,

extends to, and is united with, a pawl-head, L, that works loosely onthe end of the shaft M.

In this pawl-head L therev ishung a spring-pawl, d, that works over andengages with a ratchet, e, which is fastened on or to said shaft M, andthrough this mechanism, as above described,'the shaft M receives anintermittent and timed rotary motion, which it in turn communicates,through the gears N 0, to ashaft, P, directly over the shaft M.

On the shafts M I, and centrally between the sidesv of the mainframe,are arranged the pointingwheels ordies Q B, respectively; the perimetersof which pointing-wheels or dies are so shaped as to and-to sever it, ornearly so, from the bar .or rod; though this latter operatiouitsometimes fails to do, owing to the wearing of the dies, ortheinequality of size of the separate and of the same rods; but for whichcontingency provision is made-,aswill be hereafter explained. r

The header S is operated from the rock-shaft J, but its forward end isconnected by a link or pivotco'nnection, f, to a swinging arm, '1, so asto con-.

trol that end of it and bring it properly against the projecting end ofthe blank that is gripedin the dies to b.

.At the front of the machine, where the spike-rod is fed in,- there is avertical arm, g, through a notch in which the spike-rod is guided as -itis drawn into the machine.

On ways h h arearrauged the slides t a, and to the feeding jaws U U,which are held apart by a spring, j.

Behind the feeding-jaws U U (see fig. 5) there are arrangedwedge-shaped; sliding pieces, I: k, which not only impart to thefeeding-jaws a reciprocating motion. by which the, rod is drawn betweenthe pointing-dies or wheels'QiR, but also lateral move between thecam-shaft-B and the rockshaft J By this connection the rock-shaft Yreceives its motion, and to cam or: crank-rods Z on this shaft Y areconnected rodsmm an, which extend to the forward part of the machine,and are there fastened to the wedge-shaped sliding pieces It It andmove-them back and forth; and through these sliding nieces thefeeding-jaws- U are operated as follows:

The feeding-jaws catching against the shoulders I 1 in the slides it aremoved forward to about the position shown in lig.- 5, when theslides I;begin to move back-again.

Now the jaws U U do not commence to slide back with the pieces k untilthe shoulders 2 on said slides come against them; but the slides it,between the shoulders l 2, are tapering, and crowd the jaws U uplaterally against the spike-rod, the points or spurs 3 3 biting into themetal of the rod if neccs' sary and seize it firmly, whatever variationsthere may be in the spike-rod or rods, and they will always varyslightly.

The spike-rod being llrmly griped, the jaws U carry it up to, and inbetween, the pointing-rolls Q it, which draws down aml shapes-the blankand also points it; the projections 4 on the pointing-rolls meet, ornearly so, and pinch off, or nearly so, the blank fromthe spike-rod.

The blank being so far pre ared is then caught by the nippers an, behindthe pointing-rolls. and carried to, and left in, the die I).

The griping-lever 0 now operates, bringing its die a down upon theblank, and the header comes up and forms the head.

When the blankis completely severed from the spike-rod by the'pointingrolls or dies, the nippers a a takcand transfer it to the headingmechanism without any trouble.

But it frequently happens,- from the wearing of the dies, thedifi'erenee in the'thickness of the rod,'0r the springing or yielding ofany part of the machine, that the blank is not entirely severed from thespikerod, and there is metal connection between them snfiicientto'rcquire an immense pull by the nippers upon the blank toseparateitfrom the rod.

This must be and is provided for, but in making this provision forforcing the separation between the two another, and possibly a greater,difiiculty arises, namely, the tendency to draw the blank, spike-rod andall, through or into the machine. To-prevent this the jaws U, in frontof the rolls, are still griping and holding th'e'spikc-rod, and, inaddition to this, a clamping-mcchanism, 0, connected to the lever F, isbrought down upon the spike-rod to aid, if necessary, in holding the rodback against the action and force of the nippers 11 21. This can bereadily done when a bar is fed inand through.

It might possibly be desirable to cut off the blanks from the bar at 0,and feed in the blanks as such to the pointing-rolls, in which event thefeeding-jaws U alone are relied on for carrying them to the rolls.

The gripmg-jaws a a are separately hung and opcratcd, aml are alsoseparately adjustable, still they work in perfect, harmony with eachother, as will be explained.

0n ways 1) p are arranged two sets of slides or sectional slides q q. I

Each nipper a is pivoted to its section q, while at the rear of thenipper there is .an obliqueslot, 0, through or in which a pin or stud,s, in the other section 'q', works to open and close said nippers.

To each of the slides or sections 11' q there is attached a rod, 1, thatextend backward, and are united to the c'ank pin or shaft 1-, extendingacross or through the cranks .7; on the rock-shaft Y.

While the pins '5 s are moving through the slots rothc nippers areclosing or opening, as the case may be.

- When the pins arrive at the ends of the slots then the nippers, slidesand all, go together,

WVhen thenippe'rs have brought and deposited in v the heading-dies oneblank they immediately return for another, and during this return motionthe blank just deposited in the heading-dies is headed. As the nippersbring up the next blank they push the finished spike out of the dieswhere it has just been headed. This has been usually done by bringingthe blank against the finished spike and making the former push out thelatter; This is avery dangerous operation, and is the cause of manyaccidents to spike-machines; for the blank is thus brought against thetapered point of the finished spike, and the latter, instead of beingpushed out of the die, rides upon the blank, and so a spike and a blankwill both come into or be in the die at the same time, a matter I havestrivenin my invention to avoid, which I do as follows:

The portions a a of the nippers seize the blank, and immediately behindthese port-ions are steel dies to, a, which take against the pointedportion of the finished spike and carry it out in advance of the drawingin of the blank, and so separating the two operations that thisoverriding cannot take place.

As the point of the spike is a little broader than the head portion,owing to its being squeezed out under thepointing-rolls, these dies a uwill readily seize that portion as they too project further than theportions a a, and thus force out the finished spike, while they make aval], as it were, or separation, between the spike and the blank thatprevents their getting togetheror overriding one another. The dies at aare removable and adjustable.

Behind the ways p 11,011 which the nipper-slides work, are set-screws vc, by which either nipper of the pair a a may be moved to or from theheadingdie or the spike in it, or both moved, asthc running through ofthe spikes or blanks may require.

The griping-jaws U U and the pointing-rolls Q It travel at about thesame speed, so that there shall be no slip between them and the rod orbar they are operating upon.

And that the heading and griping and delivering may be accurately timedand changed when the rods vary, or the parts become a little worn, thecrankwrist w, on the crank V, is made adjustable, and another adjnstment may be made at a: on the crank 2, by which the throw or motionof these parts may be adjusted or timed.

Having thus fully described my invention,

I claim- 1. In combination with the point-lug and headingdies andnippers, .the feeding-jaws U and mechanism to impart to said jaws thereciprocating and lateral movements described so as to feed and hold thespikerod or blank, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the wedge shaped; and

shouldered pieces 7; and mechanism for reciprocating the same, wit-lithefeeding-jaws U and pointing-dies, substantially as described.

The combination of the nippers a, sectional slides q-q, adjustableslides 11, and reciprocating connecting-rods t, substantially asdescribed.

4. As an improvcment'on nippers for spike and nail-machines, the pointsor spurs a a on the faces of the jaws and in'rear of thenippiug-surfiiccs, as and for the purpose described.

. JAMES H. SWETT.

Witnesses:

A. Rfirouonzron, EDMUND MAssoN.

